


Bound By Time And Space

by AHumanoidBagOfChips



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Cardiophilia, Child Abuse, Drug Abuse, Drug Use, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Major Original Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Physical Abuse, Suicidal Thoughts, Young Love, Young Professor Membrane, cardiophile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:55:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHumanoidBagOfChips/pseuds/AHumanoidBagOfChips
Summary: A young Professor Membrane (Leo) yearns for freedom from his restrictive Christian parents. Dearl Denewulf, in a similar situation with her abusive father, befriends the Christian boy as a last ditch effort to find some meaning in her life.
Relationships: Professor Membrane/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Bound By Time And Space

You've been wanting to talk to this girl for weeks. This beautiful redheaded punk rock girl that doesn't go to your school. She wears heavy red and black make up, and bears ludicrously skimpy clothing that would probably make your parents vomit, you've never been so enthralled by anyone in your entire life. You see her everyday when you walk home standing behind a convenient store smoking marijuana (you can't possibly know for sure what it is that she's smoking but it doesn't look like a cigarette), it gets your heart pumping every time. A couple of times you've stood by until she decided to leave, but only a couple. You weren't _going_ to talk to her today but.. You saw her pull out a heroin needle and you aren't just going to stand by while this poor girl makes herself a statistic in teen addiction research.

Your feet seem to stumble over each other as they find their way over to where she's sitting, up until now you've just been watching her, she doesn't know you, how are you supposed to get her to put down that needle?? You get closer and she turns to look at you, it sends a jolt of fear and anxiety straight through that cursed muscle in your chest, the one that's making you breathe funny right now. With your feet shaking vigorously and your palms practically _peeing themselves_ you move to stand in front of her. You look at the needle, then her face, then the needle again, and then-

"The purity of heroin is impossible to determine before taking it. High purity means a higher strength and possibly more than your body can handle.  
Contaminants like fentanyl can be incredibly dangerous and can cause an instant overdose. Your body’s tolerance for respiratory depression caused by heroin can also change quickly.-",

**_Leo what are you doing_ **

"The body literally “forgets” to breathe, your heart beats irregularly, your blood pressure drops, fluids can back up into your lungs-",  
"To put it bluntly, you shouldn't take that.",

The girl is startled by your sudden spout of information, and stares at you wide eyed. She looks at the needle and back to you a couple times before standing up and clocking you square in the face. Your vision goes blurry for a moment and you almost fall backwards, but you manage to catch yourself before it can happen. Damn, that girl can hit! Is your nose bleeding?? "Wha.. _What was that for?",_ She drops the needle. _"Who the fuck do you think you are!? You fucking weirdo! ",_ It looks like she's about to hit you again, so you shield your face.  
  
_"I just didn't- I saw you and I- I didn't want you to make a mistake-",_ You do sound a little creepy right now. There isn't much going for you. You may have just messed up everything. The girl holds her punch until she eventually just caves and hits the brick wall instead. "Fuck! Look dude, I knew what I was fucking doing, alright? I-.. I just-..", She pushes her red hair out of her face and closes her eyes, trying to calm down. "It's no use getting angry about it Dearl, you know that, remember what the councilor said..", The ginger mutters to herself.  
  
You slowly let your guard back down, lowering your shaking arms, staring at this girl. "What exactly do you mean..? That is- um- if you don't mind me asking.", You can't seem to keep your mouth shut today can you?  
"You can't exactly _control_ a powerful drug like that, or any drug for that matter. I don't think you really know what you're doing at all. Have you seen how this type of thing can affect people-",  
  
**_You're rambling, stop it_**.  
  
_"I knew it would fucking kill me, alright?! ",_ She loses her temper again and sits back down. "Good god...",  
  
"Oh..",  
  
You didn't know it was that serious. You just stopped someone from ending their life. _You just saved someone's life!_  
What are you supposed to do in this situation?  
  
"I-",  
  
This is just.. so weird..  
  
"Why were you..? Ugh.. You- You don't have to talk to me alright, I'm just some stranger, I don't know about your life.",  
  
You aren't going to leave her by herself, you know that much. You kneel down next to her. "But I can't really.. leave after you told me that. So I guess we're going to have to talk about _something_... Have you seen South Park? I'm not supposed to watch it but I have my ways.", She blinks at you. "Uh... yeah I've seen South Park..",  
  
"Do you like it?",  
  
"Yes..? Wait, why aren't you allowed to watch it??",  
  
You hold out your cross. " _This nonsense_.",  
  
The girl cocks an eyebrow. "You're Christian?",  
  
"My parents are. I'm atheist.",  
  
"Huh. What a plot twist..", She leans back against some miscellaneous boxes. "Lemme guess.. douchy parents that force their bullshit onto you?",  
  
You nod. "I can guarantee you there is nothing after death. Don't ask how I know I just... do. So take that as incentive to not harm yourself again- uh- or attempt to I mean.",  
  
She snickers. "Well that's totally not disheartening at all.",  
  
"I promise I'm not crazy. Just a little too experimental for my own good sometimes.", This is going surprisingly well considering what just happened. She nods slowly. "Aight man, I believe you. Always kinda thought the big man didn't exist anyways.",  
  
"That's very smart of you. I think I would have believed just about anything my parents told me when I was younger.",  
  
"Yeah, children tend to believe a lot of things when they're younger. Monsters under the bed, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Aliens, all that shit.",  
  
You shudder. "ugh.. _Santa Claus_ ", The ginger girl chuckles. "What? Don't like the jolly old man?",  
  
" **I despise that jolly fat man.** ",  
  
She giggles. "Bad experience?",  
  
_"Uranium is perfectly practical so why did I get socks?",_ You hope she can tell that you're demeanor isn't actually serious. You know Santa Claus isn't real, you're just still butthurt over that experience. You were 9 years old, of course you weren't given uranium. "Sorry he disappointed you.", She laughs. "Hmm.. I haven't told you who I am yet, have I?",  
  
"No, you haven't. But I haven't either so we're even don't worry.",  
  
"Eh, I should probably anyways. My name's Dearl Denewulf. Although you might know me better as the 'neighborhood whore' or 'trailer park stripper'.",  
  
"Luckily I don't know you by either of those names. Galileo Membrane- Well, it's technically Mem _dale_ but I'm going to change it someday. I don't expect you to have heard of me. You can call me Leo.", Dearl nods. "Well, nice to meet you Leo.",  
  
"The pleasure is all mine Dearl.", You hold out your hand to her, noticeably less sweaty than you were before. She takes your hand and shakes it. "So, Leo, I don't think I've seen you around school. Are you new? Maybe not from around here??", You live close by actually, if it weren't for your parents you'd be in the same school as her. "Actually I don't go to your school, hence the nice clothes and the cross.",  
  
"Oh shit, you go to the preppy-ass private school?", Her face contorts into a look of disgust, it makes you snicker. "Yes, I do. It's not all it's cracked up to be let me tell you. A good majority of my teachers hate me. They know full well that I'm an atheist and they've tried everything to convert me.", The school doesn't really bother you too much anymore. Now it's more what your parents do when the school has to call them. "They can't keep me down! I'll take they're god and spit on it!! Especially Mr. Mulligan. _Oh how I loathe Mr. Mulligan._ ",  
  
"So your a troublemaker like me, huh?", Your whole face turns red after your outburst. You really need to learn how control all of this expressive energy. "I... suppose I am.",  
  
"Speaking of causing trouble, I'm actually suspended right now because of something I did.", She laughs to herself. "I stood up on my table in the middle of lunch and gave a wonderful speech about how the school system could suck my dick. It's safe to say now Mrs. Abney doesn't have the patience to deal with me anymore.",  
  
"Wow.. I've found myself a bad girl.", That sounds amazing. Like actually amazing. Nobody in your school would ever do something like that. "I did something similar in middle school. Turned out the teachers already knew about Darwinism and weren't too happy with me.",  
  
"That's amazing. What did you get as punishment?", Dearl leans against the brick wall beside you, arms folded, eyes focused on you.  
  
"Oh- I..",  
  
The school suspended you for a week and gave you a month of in school detention, mere peanuts compared to what happened when you went home that night. You stormed home that day and ripped off your cross in an act of defiance and your father beat you half to death. Your cheek was sliced open by his wedding ring. There was so much blood. Afterwards they locked you in your bedroom for nearly two whole days. You had to patch up the wound yourself and when you went back to school you wore a scarf until the scar faded enough to not be noticeable.  
  
"Don't think I want to talk about that.. It wasn't pleasant.",  
  
She nods slowly. "Understandable. I heard that some of the shit those schools do isn't pretty in the slightest.",  
  
"What's public school like?",  
  
"Uhh, it's interesting. Our school is a lot less strict than yours. Public school teaching is basically, for the most part, atheist. I think the only problem I have is that the councilor doesn't seem to really know what she's doing, and our principle is really sensitive to jokes or swearing.",  
"The councilor always says the same shit to me every time I see her. 'You need to control yourself Ms. Denewulf!' 'Being so angry all the time is going to negatively effect your health! 'Losing your mother so recently must be very upsetting!' Ughh...",  
  
"You lost your mother?",  
  
Her eyes trail down to her shoes. "Yeahh, about a couple years ago..", She messes with her hair. "I-It's been so long though, I shouldn't be upset anymore. This shit happens and I just gotta accept that I happened to be one of the unlucky ones.. I dunno, it's whatever.. I think my dad took the worse hit out of the two of us though. He's a total asshole now, and he drinks all the damn time.",  
  
"You know that you can't control grief right? Some people just take a very long time to feel better... I'm sorry for prying. I'm not the best at socializing.",  
  
"It's alright Leo, I don't necessarily mind. I'm just glad someone's actually talking to me for once instead of immediately asking for a 'quick fuck' or 'suck off'.",  
  
"That sounds pretty awful.",  
  
"Eh, I'm really just desensitized to it at this point. I'm taking a break from sex anyways, literally no one I've had a hookup with here so far has had any game goin' for them.", Dearl frowns. "Uhh.. What does _any_ of that mean? I'm not familiar with the slang.",  
  
She has to stifle a laugh. "Wait, you don't-? Okay.. Okay how do I explain this..", She claps her hands together. "So a 'hookup' is basically meeting up to fuck, yeah? And 'game' is like an umbrella term for stuff like skill, size, etc. etc. y'know? Do you get it now or do I need to explain further?",  
  
"No no I think I've got it now. So nobody that you've had relations with has been any good at it?",  
  
"Yeah basically.",  
  
"I wouldn't know.", You point your thumb at yourself proudly. "Have you met a 16 year old virgin yet or am I the first?",  
  
"Well well well, lucky you.", She smirks. "You're the first I've met in a while, I will say that. I will also sayyyy that I'm not surprised, no offense though. I'm pretty sure almost everyone in that private school is a virgin.",  
  
"You'd be surprised. People just don't really associate with me.",  
  
"Oh?", She tilts her head. "Well then, color me shocked. Also, really? I mean, you _look_ like an absolute dork but you seem pretty chill.",  
  
"Everyone at my school thinks I'm insane. I don't have any friends. I mostly just hear other peoples conversations.",  
  
"Well shit, that sucks major fuckin' ass.",  
  
"You sure do swear a lot.",  
  
"I'm just being more expressive. "I don't know about you, but saying shit like 'fiddlesticks' frustrates me, it's too long. Fuck is much more shorter and blunt, it gets more of a reaction.",  
  
"Your grammar needs improvement too, young lady.", You smile at her, this is really nice. "Grammar? Never heard of it. Sounds nerdy.", She thinks for a minute, smirking at you. "Hey, Leo, are you busy later tonight?", Your eyes widen in shock, she actually wants to hang out with you? "My parents usually lock me in my room at night. Why do you ask?", She furrows her eyebrows, deep in thought. "When do they usually sleep? Are your walls thick?", Ok now you're just confused. "They.. aren't very observant. It's just getting out that's the trouble. I have a window but they made it unlockable from the inside. They usually sleep early, when it starts getting dark- why are you asking me all of this??",  
  
"Sweet. I'll sneak in.",  
  
_"What????",  
  
_"I'll sneak into your room so we can hangout.", She looks dead serious and it's made your blush from earlier come screaming back. "B-b-b-but what i-if you get caught?",  
  
" _I have my ways._ This wouldn't be the first time I've done this.", She mischievously smirks again. "OOOOOooook I've gone and gotten myself in with a madwoman now haven't I!?", You yank a piece of paper out of your back pocket. "Do you have a pencil?!",  
  
"Yeah, one sec.", Dearl turns and pulls a pencil out of her bag. When she turns back around, she notices how nervous you look. "Hey, Leo, it's gonna be alright, I promise. If they get suspicious, I'll just toss myself out the window or into a closet or something. We'll be able to pull this off no problem.",  
  
"..I have no reason whatsoever to believe you but I'm doing this anyway. Maybe I _am_ insane." You take the pencil from her and scribble down your address "Here.",  
  
"Thanks. And hey, being 'insane' isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, have you _met_ scientists?",  
  
"I _am_ one, my dear.", You take a silly little bow. "Pfft, what era are we in, the 1700's?",  
  
"Sure.",  
  
"Oh, well in that case.. Oh dear Reginald! I can't simply make it back to my saltbox all alone on a night like this! Would you ever be so kind, and help a dear lonesome harlot find her way home ;)?", Oh dear lord. "Pfft! Why yes I would madam! I couldn't possibly let a poor defenseless girl walk these streets by herself.", It doesn't take long for you to lose your composure and start laughing like an idiot. Your laughter is contagious, Dearl begins to giggle too. "Boy am I glad people don't talk like that anymore!",  
  
"Me too!", You both laugh until your sides get sore. This feeling is really good, really warm. You've never been able to talk to someone like this and it feels amazing. You can't help but wonder why Dearl is here everyday though.. Why she came here today to kill herself... It seems like a question for another time though. "Ah, anywho, sky's starting to look a little orange. You should probably get home before your parents start to worry or whatever.", She smiles at you, it's oddly comforting. "Yeah.. and.. you're coming later?",  
  
"Yep. I'll come around right when it turns dark.",  
  
"Alright then. I guess I'll see you then.",  
  
"See ya later, Leo.", Dearl shoots some finger-guns at you.  
  
"See you.", You walk off with a smile on your face and a fuzzy feeling in your chest. You made a friend today. Somebody who actually seems to understand you.


End file.
